What do a motorbike, a barbecue and a pallet of work-in-progress have in common?

The answer should, of course, be "nothing whatsoever". But according to a conversation I had recently with the technical manager at a leading paper merchant, he's more likely to find his protective stack covers being put to use in a customer's car park, or spirited away altogether to someone's back garden, as opposed to doing the job they were intended for.

All very amusing, except it's not funny for a paper supplier when they are being blamed for print problems that are caused by not handling or storing paper correctly. The particular example cited involved a job that had been printed on one side, then the pallet of paper had been left uncovered in the factory over the weekend, and then funnily enough when the printer tried to print the other side the stock was so distorted and wavy it was impossible to register the job. And yet according to the printer the paper was at fault.

Paper is a living, breathing thing and it's wrapped up for a reason. And paper suppliers provide pallet covers for work-in-progress for good reason, too. The arrival of autumn is also heralding the usual spate of seasonal issues caused by fluctuations in temperature and humidity so perhaps now is as good a time as ever to brush up on best practice for paper storage and conditioning. Our on-demand world means that ensuring paper is in the best possible condition for printing is more challenging than ever before.

And on the subject of humidity, when visiting printers on the continent I generally find they have humidification systems installed in their factories. I rarely see them here. At drupa I was talking to humidification specialist Draabe about why this was the case, and the view was that in the past the climate in the UK has been pretty stable and benign so it hasn't been a high priority for companies here - but as our so-called "summer" has proved, global warming means that's no longer necessarily the case.

Anyhow, on the bright side this topic gives me an opportunity to reproduce my picture of the Draabe water droplet girl at drupa - she always makes me smile.  

From PrintWeek